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Gulf Council schedules special meeting in New Orleans to finalize red snapper decisions

Opening day of the 2013 red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico started off a little bumpy with seas pushing toward 5 feet, but the wind calmed as the morning progressed and charter captains fishing out of Dauphin Island Marina returned to the dock with plenty of happy customers and overflowing fish boxes. Jonathan Twilley, left, and his dad Mike Twilley, both of Oxford, Ala., show off a couple of the larger sow red snapper caught aboard the "Southwind" on Saturday. (Jeff Dute/jdute@al.com)

View full sizeThe Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a special meeting on July 17 in New Orleans to finalize several issues dealing with the 2013 red snapper quota and potential fall fishing season. Here, Will Riddle of the Lady Jacqueline cleans fish. (Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com)

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Citing the need for more scientific information and the time to digest it, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has scheduled a special one-day meeting to decide what to do with additional red snapper poundage its scientific committee determined are available to be caught this year.

At the meeting, scheduled to be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 17 at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans, the council will consider what the new 2013 quota will be, how it will use the additional pounds and what a fall recreational season framework would look like.

"The 2013 ABC (allowable biological catch) was a lot higher than we anticipated," Shipp said. "Because of the timing, we did not have all the detailed data we felt we needed, especially if we want to be consistent with our seasons."

That's an increase of more than 4 million pounds above the allowable biological catch number used to set the 2013 season.

Allowing for scientific and management buffers to prevent overfishing at the 13.5 million pound level, the SSC recommended the Gulf Council's Reef Fish Committee adopt 11 million pounds as the new combined commercial and recreational quota for 2013.

That number was put forward in the form of a motion by Reef Fish Committee Chairman Bob Shipp Friday as a possible alternative for this year's new quota. After much discussion, Shipp amended his motion and it passed with the new alternative set at 11.5 million pounds.

Other possible quotas range from a high mirroring the SSC's 13.5 million pound allowable biological catch limit to a low of 10 million pounds that was approved as another alternative upon a motion by Alabama's Kevin Anson.

Anson pointed to significantly lower red snapper recruitment in 2010 and 2011 as noted in the new stock assessment and the resulting SSC quota estimates that fell to 11.9 million pounds for 2014 and 10.6 million pounds in 2015.

Anson said he is in favor of a lower quota in order leave some fish in the water this year to further the council's stated intent of developing a "constant-catch" strategy that removes extreme variability in quotas and season lengths that have become inherent in the system over the past several years.

On Tuesday, the Reef Fish Committee, of which Anson is a member, was in favor of maintaining the quota at 11 million pounds through 2015, but decided to focus on this year's quota in its recommendation to the full council.

Discussions among council members and NMFS staff indicated there is a possibility that the council could work on the framework to implement constant-catch quotas through 2015 at its August meeting.

Anson noted that stable quotas and season lengths and dates would make it easier for the for-hire sector to manage their businesses and for locals and tourists alike to plan their fishing vacations.

Once the new quota is finalized, the council will then have to decide if it wants to use all of the recreational sector's 49 percent of the additional poundage toward a possible fall season.

The council has a couple of season options from which to choose.

It can go with a weekend-only, Friday-through-Sunday season or it could approve a continuous season. How long each season would last is unknown until the council finalizes the 2013 quota.

Earlier in the week, National Marine Fisheries Service personnel indicated that at 11 million pounds, a weekend-only season could total up to 14 additional fishing days while the continuous season may be open for as many as 29 days.

NMFS Southeast Regional Office Administrator Roy Crabtree said because of federal requirements, the earliest the fall season could open is September.

The weekend-only season is shorter because of the anticipated higher fishing effort and resulting catch. Fishing effort would be lower in either case since tourist season is nearing its end and school would be back in session for most people.

A public hearing will be held during the New Orleans meeting. An agenda for the special meeting had not yet been posted, but can be found here.